South Carolina became the latest men's basketball program to be accused by the NCAA of a violation as a result of the federal investigation into corruption in the sport. According to a Notice of Allegations sent to the school by NCAA Enforcement, the association is alleging a Level I violation—the most serious at its disposal—related to a bribe paid to former assistant coach Lamont Evans.
“The University of South Carolina has received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA related to a former men’s basketball assistant coach. As expected, this does not involve any institutional, current coaching staff or former or current student-athlete eligibility issues. We will continue to defend our program and institution in this process with the NCAA,” athletics director Ray Tanner said in a statement.
The association charged the school with a single Level I violation for Evans allegedly accepting at least $5,865 in bribes in 2015-16 from agent and runner Christian Dawkins. The bribes were in exchange for Evans arranging meetings between Dawkins and former Gamecocks guard P.J. Dozier and his family, in the hopes of swaying them to retain the agency Dawkins was working for, ASM Sports, which was run by Andy Miller.
According to the notice of allegations, the violation rose to Level I because the violations “(a) provided or were intended to provide a substantial or extensive impermissible benefit to a staff member, (b) involved unethical conduct, (c) were intentional or showed reckless indifference to the NCAA constitution and bylaws, (d) seriously undermined or threatened the integrity of the NCAA Collegiate Model and (e) demonstrated egregious conduct inconsistent with the affirmative responsibility and behavioral expectations of college coaches.”
The notice also lists South Carolina’s history of violations, which only includes two smaller ones since 2012 and three total since 2005.